Political Wire

Biden Was Right to Skip the Super Bowl Interview

February 12, 2023 at 4:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Pfeiffer: “The upside of these interviews is that they offer a massive audience. The Super Bowl is usually the most-watched event of the year. Last year, 99 million people tuned into the Super Bowl. To put that number in perspective, 27 million people watched the State of the Union last week.”

“The downside? The interviews are a weird mix of news and sports. Some tough questions about the issues of the day. Some serious questions about the sport of football, like the dangers of concussions or underrepresentation of Black coaches. And then some lighter questions about who the President thinks will win the game or their favorite Super Bowl snacks.”

“While the audience is large, they aren’t necessarily interested in news, and they mill about at Super Bowl parties eating wings and portions of seven-foot sub sandwiches.”

When, and How, to Counterattack Trump

February 12, 2023 at 3:13 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “For months, Mr. DeSantis has pursued a strategy of conflict avoidance with his top rival in the shadow 2024 Republican presidential primary, delaying what is likely to be a hostile and divisive clash that forces the party’s voters to pick sides.”

“But now he faces the pressing question of how long this approach can work. Mr. Trump, who has spent weeks trying to goad Mr. DeSantis into a fight with rude nicknames like ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ is stepping up his social media-fueled assault, even as polls and interviews show that Mr. DeSantis has become the leading alternative to the former president for many voters and donors.”

“Mr. DeSantis must also decide just how forcefully to counterattack once he engages with Mr. Trump, and whether he has left himself enough room to effectively parry the former president’s taunts and smears without offending his loyal supporters.”

Just Two Split Party States

February 12, 2023 at 3:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Balz: “Only two states, Virginia and Pennsylvania, have legislatures where each party controls one chamber, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 47 others, one party controls both chambers. (Nebraska has a unicameral legislature.)”

Bernie’s Capitalist Book Tour

February 12, 2023 at 2:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “He is about to go on tour to hawk a new book, It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, due out later this month and billed by its publisher as ‘a progressive takedown of the über-capitalist status quo.’ Tickets for an upcoming book event at a concert venue in Washington are selling for up to $95 on Ticketmaster — a company that last month was accused of anti-competitive behavior by some of Mr. Sanders’s Senate colleagues. His Republican critics are having a field day with that.”

It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism

Amazon Kindle Edition

Schumer Says U.S. Likely Shot Down More Spy Balloons

February 12, 2023 at 2:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The United States believes the unidentified objects shot down by American fighter jets over Canada and Alaska were balloons, though smaller than the China balloon downed over the Atlantic Ocean last weekend, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday,” the AP reports.

Bolsonarro Teases Return to Brazil

February 12, 2023 at 1:57 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former President Jair Bolsonaro said he intends to return to Brazil “in the following weeks,” the AP reports.

“The far-right politician has been in the U.S. since arriving in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 31, the eve of the inauguration of his leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as Brazil’s current president.”

Jared Kushner Tried to Hide Source of Saudi Funds

February 12, 2023 at 1:05 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “The day after leaving the White House, Kushner created a company that he transformed months later into a private equity firm with $2 billion from a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Kushner’s firm structured those funds in such a way that it did not have to disclose the source, according to previously unreported details of Securities and Exchange Commission forms reviewed by The Washington Post.”

“His business used a commonly employed strategy that allows many equity firms to avoid transparency about funding sources.”

Republicans Clash with Prosecutors Over Abortion Bans

February 12, 2023 at 1:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “GOP lawmakers see a major flaw in their states’ near-total abortion bans: Some local prosecutors won’t enforce them.”

“Republicans in Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Texas — frustrated by progressive district attorneys who have publicly pledged not to bring charges under their state’s abortion laws — have introduced bills that would allow state officials to either bypass the local prosecutors or kick them out of office if their abortion-related enforcement is deemed too lenient.”

Natural Disasters Displaced Millions of Americans

February 12, 2023 at 12:59 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

NBC News: “Natural disasters forced an estimated 3.4 million people in the U.S. to leave their homes in 2022, according to Census Bureau data collected earlier this year, underscoring how climate-related weather events are already changing American communities.”

Ron Klain’s Exit Interview

February 12, 2023 at 12:54 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In an interview with USA Today, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain discusses some of the critical moments during his time working for President Biden.

Biden Hosts Nation’s Governors

February 12, 2023 at 12:15 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “Biden hosted the dinner for members of the National Governors Association at the White House for the first time in his administration. It’s usually a tradition, but the dinner was held last year at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Virginia estate, and virtually in 2021 because of COVID-19.”

“The dinner came as federal leaders seemed as divided as ever with the new Republican majority in the House courting a risky debt ceiling showdown.”

“On Saturday at the White House, though, the message was togetherness — and not just because the room was tightly packed with governors, spouses and Cabinet members. Biden and both associations’ leaders, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, spoke about the need to put aside the increasingly rancorous political differences in order to work together to better the nation.”

Dan Balz: Democratic governors, seeing rising threats, look beyond their borders.

High Bipartisan Hopes for China Panel as Tensions Rise

February 12, 2023 at 12:14 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“For several high-profile House committees, their first hearings were dominated by partisan food fights over the Pledge of Allegiance, guns in meetings and a celebrity’s expletive-filled tweet about Donald Trump,” NBC News reports.

“That’s unlikely to be the case with the new select committee on China. Republicans and Democrats on the panel say it could be the one bright spot of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress brimming with partisan bickering.”

“The China committee’s two leaders — Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. — are setting the tone early, identifying areas where they say they expect to find bipartisan agreement on policy and legislation.”

Bernie Sanders Has a New Role

February 12, 2023 at 12:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In two unsuccessful bids for the White House, Senator Bernie Sanders made no secret of his disdain for billionaires. Now, in what could be his final act in Washington, he has the power to summon them to testify before Congress — and he has a few corporate executives in his sights,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Sanders, 81, who identifies as a democratic socialist, has said he will not seek the Democratic nomination for president again if President Biden runs for re-election — a position he reiterated in a recent interview in his Senate office. He is himself up for re-election in 2024 and would not say whether he would run again, which raises the prospect that the next two years in Congress could be his last.”

It’s Not Clear What the U.S. Shot Down

February 12, 2023 at 12:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “There were multiple theories in Washington as to the provenance of the objects, but several Biden administration officials cautioned that much remained unknown about the last two objects shot down. The United States has long monitored U.F.O.s that enter American airspace, and officials believe that surveillance operations by foreign powers, weather balloons or other airborne clutter may explain the most recent incidents of unidentified aerial phenomena — government-speak for U.F.O.s — as well as many episodes in past years.”

“However, nearly all of the incidents remain officially unexplained, according to a report that was made public in 2021.”

Washington Post: “The incursions in the past week have changed how analysts receive and interpret information from radars and sensors, a U.S. official said Saturday, partly addressing a key question of why so many objects have recently surfaced.”

Ohio Teacher Quits After Showing Racist Image

February 12, 2023 at 8:03 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The teacher who supervised the announcements at Bexley Middle School resigned Friday — one week after a racist image was shown during the school’s morning announcements,” the Columbus Dispatch reports.

“The image of an orangutan eating a watermelon appeared on a green screen background after a historical fact was shared Feb. 3 as part of Black History Month.”

Democratic Lawmaker Has Racked Up 84 Parking Tickets

February 12, 2023 at 7:59 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Dan Goldman’s (D-NY) two vehicles have amassed at least 84 traffic and parking violations in the last six years, the New York Post reports.

Anger Over Quake Response Challenges Erdogan

February 12, 2023 at 7:41 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A powerful earthquake struck northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing more than 17,000 people, exposing government incompetence and fueling an economic crisis. Amid the turmoil, a young, charismatic politician rode a wave of public anger to become prime minister in 2003,” the New York Times reports.

“That politician was Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

“Now, as president, Mr. Erdogan faces challenges similar to those that brought down his predecessors — posing what is perhaps the greatest threat of his two decades in power to his political future.”

Politico: “Opposition politicians are openly blaming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the fact the country was ill-prepared for the catastrophe, as well as for the slow relief effort which they say has been worsened by the state’s failure to cooperate and coordinate with local authorities and relief agencies.”

Fed’s Inflation Fight Pushes Up Cost of U.S. Debt

February 12, 2023 at 7:40 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“An era of ultracheap debt is over in Washington as higher borrowing costs widen the U.S. deficit and fuel a partisan clash over raising the debt ceiling and how much borrowing could be too much,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Treasury’s spending on interest on the debt was $261 billion in the first four months of this fiscal year, a 33% increase from $196 billion spent in the same period last year, according to the department.”